Nadong, Renzo Norien D.

The Human Visual System

I.

The human eye

The human visual system consists of two functional parts, the eye and (part of the) brain. The brain does all of the complex image processing, while the eye functions as the biological equivalent of a camera.

Iris - controls the entry of light into the eye and Function similarly to the aperture stop and shutter in a camera Cornea - allow light to enter the eye. Pupil - allow light to pass into the eye.
Retina -acts as a screen for the lens to focus image -convert light into electrical signals by photoreceptors. Lens -focuses image Optic Nerve - transmits the optic impulse to the brain Fovea - Is a layer of sensory neurones, the key structures being photoreceptors (rod an cone cells) which respond to light. Contains relay neurones and sensory neurones that pass impulses along the optic nerve to the part of the brain that controls vision Area in the retina where our vision is sharpest.

Vitreous Humour -Is a hole in the middle of the iris where light is allowed to continue its passage. In bright light it is constricted and in dim light it is dilated. Aqueous humour- Is an opaque, fibrous, protective outer structure. It is soft connective tissue, and the spherical shape of the eye is maintained by the pressure of the liquid inside. It provides attachment surfaces for eye muscles

When light rays hits the eye, it will first pass through the cornea, then subsequently; through the aqueous humour; the iris, the lens and the vitreous humour before finally reaching the retina. II.

2 Types of Photoreceptors
Rods Cones

RODS Cones Active during daylight. We experience photopic or daylight vision. Responsible for all high resolution vision High illumination levels (Photopic vision) Less sensitive than rods. Abundant in about 100 million in a human eye and spread evenly in the retina. Except at fovea where there are almost none. More responsive to light than cones. Active when dark because it cannot discriminate colors We experience scotopic or night vision Low illumination levels (Scotopic vision).

*Note : In dimly light circumstances there is an intermediate stage where both rods and cones are active called mesopic vision.

There are 3 kinds of cones for color vision.

Red Blue Green

Note : * They provide the eye's color sensitivity. * The green and red cones are concentrated in the fovea centralis . The "blue" cones have the highest sensitivity and are mostly found outside the fovea, leading to some distinctions in the eye's blue perception. Within the eye, there are 5 layers of processing organized as sheets: 1st sheet: photoreceptors - rods and cones that receive the incident light 2nd sheet: horizontal cells - inhibitory input to bipolar cells, responsible for combining information from surrounding photoreceptors 3rd sheet: bipolar cells - take exhitatory inputs from photoreceptors and inhibitory input from bipolar cells 4th sheet: amacrine cells 5th sheet: ganglion cells - the axons from the ganglion cells comprise the optic nerve

III.

Visual Psychophysics
Characterize the response of Human Visual System to different stimuli A. Brightness Adaptation

HVS can view large intensity range (1010) But simultaneous perceived intensity range is much smaller. If one is at Ba intensity (outside) and walk into a dark theater, he can only distinguish up to Bb. It will take much longer for eye to adapt for the scotopic vision to pick up.

B. Spatial Threshold Vision 1.1 Weber Ratio HVSs sensitivity to intensity difference differ at different background intensities.

Simultaneous Contrast

The perceived brightness of inner circle are different due to different background intensity levels even they are identical. Mach Band Effect

Perceived Brightness changes around strong edges.

IV.

Ways to study human vision 1. Physiological 2. Phenomenological/Psychophysical 3. Cellular recordings 4. Functional MRI 5. Computational modelling

http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~ece533/notes/HVS.ppt

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html http://www.cs.uu.nl/docs/vakken/ibv/reader/chapter2.pdf http://www.itcexperts.net/library/Capability%20of%20the%20human%20visual%20system.pdf